HIS NAME WAS BOND

 

MOVIE
No Time To Die
Director  Cary Joji Fukunaga
Review Ray Chan

The fifth and final instalment featuring Daniel Craig as James Bond wraps up a multi-film story arc that began with a young intern earning his elite status in Casino Royale, to the now-years-retired seasoned veteran who is drawn back into service.
    The movie picks up close to where the last chapter (Spectre) ended, with our hero still deeply in love with Madeleine (Léa Seydoux). But he soon discovers that he’s been betrayed, and he ends his time at MI6 unceremoniously.

    From there, the film jumps ahead five years, with Craig (and therefore Bond) looking suitably aged, still a fine specimen but a little shaken and a little stirred. He’s living in seclusion in Jamaica until an old friend from the CIA, Felix Leiter, comes to visit with a dodgy Pollyana of a peon to recruit Bond to do a little light espionage that they can’t do themselves.
    This is where the plot turns every which way, as the spy teams up with a dazzling young agent, Paloma, to kidnap a scientist who holds the key to finalising a germ warfare plan known only to a few, including Bond’s old boss M (Ralph Fiennes) and the film’s primary villain, the mysterious Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), who has use for Madeleine and her access to MI6. Safin indeed utters one of the movie’s best lines when he tells Bond: “We both eradicate people to make the world a better place.”
    Cue the spectacularly choreographed scenes of parkoured action, pretty ladies, gadget demonstrations, and social drinking. But as this is the conclusion to a grand adventure, the proceedings certainly go further than just more of the same.
    Not unlike great film sagas of these days (Avengers, Star Wars, Justice League), many of the recurring characters and actors feel like old friends: apart from Fiennes, it’s nice to see Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q (now confirmed gay), Rory Kinnear as M’s right-hand man Tanner and even Spectre’s villain Blofeld (Christoph Waltz).
    We are also introduced to the new 007, Nomi, who represents the next generation of double-0 agents. Yet despite her proficiency, one can’t help but wonder if bigger things are instead planned for the afore-mentioned Paloma.
    No Time To Die is to this Bond franchise what Logan was to the Wolverine mythos: ending things definitively for the titular character, highlighting Craig’s strengths in suffusing Bond with more personality than his predecessors, while reminding us why this collection of films is so different to the other versions.
    It’s less a traditional James Bond movie and more a victory lap, greatest hits package, and blaze of glory all in one. 
    Perhaps the only blip is the theme song, always a highlight of each Bond offering. Billie Elish's dreary tune may have won a Grammy but it's unmemorable and listless. Far more beautiful is the piece chosen for the end credits: Louis Armstrong's We Have All The Time in the World, reprised from 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, in which Aussie George Lazenby starred in the leading role.

 #notimetodie #universal

SHARP AS A KNIFE

MOVIE
Knives Out
Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director Rian Johnson
Review Ray Chan

Renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead under suspicious circumstances, after a family gathering to celebrate his 85th birthday.
    Everyone present, including Harlan’s personal carer and nurse Marta (Arna de Armas), are possible suspects, with local police officers joined on the case by famed sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), who, as it turns out, was hired by an anonymous client to solve the crime, just to add more mystery to proceedings.
    The incredible ensemble of respectable actors inhabit their characters snugly, who all have a motive for murder and something to hide.
    The most interesting personality is immigrant Marta, who has a condition which causes her to throw up whenever she tells a lie, a virtue appreciated by Blanc, who enlists her to help lead the hunt for the evildoer.
    Personally, this reviewer found the big reveal a little underwhelming and perhaps a tad unsatisfactory, and the denoument quite drawn out as Craig delivers a lengthy soliloquy about the culprit in a weird Texan twang that irritates more than engages.
    But while his performance occasionally teeters under the weight of its contrivance, the momentum created by the multiple plot twists and turns corrects his balance each time.
    Ultimately, that really doesn’t matter, because the main enjoyment from the movie is being part of the case and wondering how to solve it. It’s not about the ending, it’s about the journey and soaking up every little detail, every foible, every clue and red herring.
    Director Rian Johnson has made no secret of his admiration of Agatha Christie-esque murder mysteries, and his script is almost a tribute to the traditions and elements that make up this genre.
    He even throws in some potent moments of contemporary political commentary, notably focusing on how the US treats immigrants.
    Tellingly, a recurring punchline is the fact that none of the Thrombeys know what country Marta hails from, while Harlan’s son-in-law (Don Johnson) makes an agst-fed speech about government policy.
    Social analysis aside though, this unpredictable briskly-paced 130 minutes serves as a nicely-constructed modern reinvention of the whodunnit, and, despite the odd gripe mentioned above, is by far the sharpest movie puzzle of the year.


#knivesout